Ring. Ring.
Ughhh.
Seriously?
I groaned, rolling onto my back, instantly regretting it as my head throbbed from barely sleeping last night.
My eyes were still glued shut, and the room felt way too bright for how exhausted I was. I reached out blindly, patting the bed like an idiot trying to find my phone without actually opening my eyes.
Ring. Ring.
My hand finally hit it. I grabbed the phone and held it to my chest for a second, hoping the noise would just stop on its own if I ignored it hard enough.
It didn't.
Of course, it didn't.
I cracked one eye open. The screen glowed back at me, way too harsh for this hour.
Who even calls at this time? It wasn't that early, but still too early for me after the night I just had. My body was tired, my brain was fried, and whoever was calling clearly didn't get the memo.
I squinted at the name.
"Caroline?" I whispered out her name, still confused why in the world she was calling me this early. Before I could even say hello, her high-pitched voice pierced through my ear.
What a great start to a day!
I rubbed my ear, fearing that I might get deaf because of her screeching. "For God's sake, why are you yelling?" I yelled back at her.
I was still worried and confused about how I was going to survive with him, and here she was yelling about God knows what. I shook my head in disappointment, which she clearly cannot see.
She again called my name from the other side when I hissed, putting my phone away from my ear. Setting it to speaker mode, I spat, "You fool, do you know what has happened?"
Her fifth crush of the month again ditched her.
I rolled my eyes, knowing it would be another lame reason like that. Caroline had a sweet and bubbly personality, but sometimes it annoys me, okay, not sometimes, but every time.
What should I do with this girl? I thought to myself. With this, I opened my mouth to cut the call when her voice again echoed in the room, "You and Davis are everywhere."
My hands stopped in the mid way, as my eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What do you mean?" I voiced out the question.
As if she just needed this one moment, because the next moment, she started to blabber mouth everything, and likewise, everything went over my head. I caught a few phrases like news, sensation, and kiss.
My heart started to thud at a fast pace as several worst-case scenarios started swirling in my mind. Knowing that the only way to calm down my overthinking mind was to clear things and get answers from her.
"Stop blabbering nonsense, Caroline." I snapped at her as my breath started to get shallow every second, "And...tell me clearly."
There was a beat of silence. One short pause where even she understood this wasn't the time to mess around.
And then Caroline dropped the bomb.
"Elena, I'm not joking. You and Davis are all over the internet. Like literally everywhere. It's on every social media platform. Even on freaking gossip pages.
Dave's crazy fans got a few photos of Dave kissing you that night when he came to our apartment."
I felt my heart sink as my jaw hit the ground. "You are joking, right?"
Please say yes.Please say yes.
"No! I am serious. Check your phone." I hung up the call as I quickly grabbed the phone from the bed. Unlocking the phone, I tapped a few buttons as I opened my social media account.
With every second, my anxiety started to heighten. I scrolled through my feed, but nothing came. I realized that two weeks back, only I exited every group posting Dave's news. So, I texted Caroline to share the post instead.
Within a few seconds, she shared the post. Clicking on it extended it to the full screen. There it was in big and bold letters.
"Davis Scott's Mystery Girl: Secret Girlfriend or Just a Comfort Kiss?"
What. The. Hell.
My eyes widened as I stared at the headline, my thumb frozen mid-scroll. There, right below it, was the picture.
Grainy. Blurry yet anyone could make out Dave's face as his features were prominently different from others. So, though it was blurry, it was clear that the reporter succeeded in taking the picture.
I also heard him say that he was not able to capture my face, and likewise, my back was face to the camera. Moreover, I wore a black scarf that covered my back completely, and there seemed to be no visible sign to identify me.
I almost sighed in relief, but the next second, as my gaze fell on the number of comments, my throat dried. There were freaking 50k comments.
Are people taking this seriously? Tapping upon the comment icon, the comments showed up.
The comment section exploded on my screen within moments, and my eyes couldn't even keep up.
"She's probably a fan he's been secretly seeing all this time."
"Can't believe he moved on already from me."
"The girl's face isn't even visible. Mysterious. Intriguing. I ship it."
"She's using him. Typical."
"Is this some PR stunt?"
"Poor Davis. He looks so broken."
"They look kinda cute, tho. Broken but healing vibes."
"Who is she?! We need to find her!"
That one made me choke on my own breath. We need to find her?
No, no, you don't. Please don't. Find your own business instead.
I quickly exited the comments, my hands starting to sweat.
My whole body felt like it was overheating and freezing at the same time. Like that moment right before you faint or puke or both. That awful, stormy kind of panic.
My heart was racing like it was about to outrun time itself.
How did this happen? How the hell did that moment—that one second where he leaned on me, kissed me get turned into this circus?
And why now?